Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Sterlin Harjo
Writers: Jimmy Ellis & Dwight Gallo
Based on Marvel Comics characters
Cast: Tatanka Means, Billy Bob Thornton, Grace Dove, Michael Horse, Kim Coates, Michael Madsen, Irene Bedard, Mo Brings Plenty, Jerod Carmichael, Andrei Arlovski
Plot: William Talltrees (Tatanka Means) walks carefully through the vast open air of the badlands of eastern Montana. A bow rests on his shoulder as he takes in the beauty of his unspoiled environment. Suddenly he hears a series of gunshots pierce through the air. He uses his tracking ability to pinpoint the direction of the shots and begins marching in that direction. He finally comes upon the sight of two hunters firing their shotgun wildly at a mother red wolf and her cubs. He fires his bow at their feet and asks what business they have on Cheyenne lands. They throw their beer bottles on the ground and tell Talltrees that they are just hunting. Talltrees informs them that only those with Cheyenne blood are allowed to hunt on Cheyenne lands. They attempt to laugh him away, but Talltrees then fires another arrow, this time piercing a hole in the side of their hunters' pickup truck. He quickly readies another arrow and urges the hunters to leave the land at once or the next arrows will be aimed at their hearts. Realizing he isn't kidding around, the hunters speed off in their truck. Talltrees makes his way over to the wolves, finding the mother wolf and all but one of the cubs have been killed. Talltrees takes off his shirt and wraps up the young wolf cub in it. He carries the cub away from the scene. He looks down at the cub, and calling it "Lobo'', tells it things will be okay. Talltrees walks back toward civilization and the town of Wolf Point, Montana, with the wolf cub in his arms.
Cornelius Van Lunt (Billy Bob Thornton) steps off of a private jet and onto the tarmac of a desolate airstrip on the outskirts of Wolf Point. He is immediately followed by his head of security, Jason Birch (Kim Coates). Van Lunt expresses his disdain for the area, but that the organization back in New York likes the spot for two reasons: the police don't have jurisdiction on tribal lands and the proximity to the Canadian border will make it easier to launder money through the casino.
Talltrees heads down to the tribal center where his father, Chief Thomas Talltrees (Michael Horse), oversees the day-to-day operations of the Wolf Point Cheyenne Reservation. Talltrees' mother, Rebecca Talltrees (Irene Bedard), is also at the center. Chief Talltrees is getting ready to leave for a meeting. Rebecca doesn't like the sound of the meeting - something to do with white men from out east wanting to open a casino on the reservation - and asks her son if she will accompany Chief on the meeting to make sure everything goes okay.
Talltrees and his father drive out to the northernmost section of the Reservation where Van Lunt and Birch are waiting. Van Lunt cordially greets the two men and asks them to imagine the possibilities of building a casino out in this open space. Talltrees expresses his distaste for the idea, which noticeably bothers Van Lunt, but the Chief asks his son to give Van Lunt the courtesy of listening to his idea. Van Lunt lays out his pitch about the casino opening up jobs for tribe members, comparing the opportunity to the success that other tribes in the region have found in the gaming industry. At the end of the pitch, Chief Talltrees decides to politely turn down the offer Van Lunt has made. Van Lunt then gives Birch a nod, and he shoots both Talltrees men in the back. Van Lunt and Birch get back into their vehicle, with Van Lunt commenting that there has to be other tribal representatives they can discuss the proposal with since New York really wants this location. Birch asks Van Lunt if he should put another bullet in them to be sure, but Van Lunt says to leave them to the wolves.
Late at night, William Talltrees wakes up from Lobo, who has somehow tracked him, licking him until he gets up. Talltrees takes a moment to orient himself when he notices the dead body of his father. Talltrees screams in anger and pain. Talltrees struggles to his feet, badly injured from the bullet in his back. Using all his strength and will, Talltrees manages to make it back to the road before passing out from blood-loss on the roadside.
Dawn Southwind (Grace Dove) is driving along the road after a long shift at the local medical clinic when she sees Lobo in the middle of the road. She swerves out of the way, but almost runs over Talltrees in the process. When she sees his unconscious body, she drags him into her car. Lobo jumps into the car alongside his master. There she recognizes him from childhood. She begins driving him toward the hospital, but he comes to and says "no hospital" before passing out again. Dawn takes Talltrees to her small cabin at the edge of the reservation.
Dawn drags Talltrees inside and finds that his bullet wound has become heavily infected. Knowing that the wound will only become more infected until the bullet is removed, Dawn digs through a drawer and pulls out a pair of tweezers, which she uses to dig the bullet out of Talltrees back. She makes a trip to the clinic and steals some antibiotics to fight Talltrees' infection. Weeks go by as Talltrees slips in and out of consciousness with Dawn and Lobo at his side. When Talltrees wakes up at Dawn's cabin he finds that Dawn has removed the bullet from his body and stitched him up. He tries to get up to thank her, but Dawn rushes over and tells him that he shouldn't move so soon as he may rip the stitches. Flashes of his father's death rush through his memory. Talltrees asks what day it is, learning that it has been several weeks since the meeting with Van Lunt.
Talltrees returns to the northern edge of the reservation to bury his father's body. As he digs, the stitches from his wound tear, but Talltrees is not stopped by pain or blood as he believes he has the duty to give his father a proper burial. Once he has buried his father, he starts back toward Dawn's cabin when he sees a billboard announcing that the Taurus Casino at Wolf Point is opening soon. Talltrees asks Dawn what she knows about the casino. She tells him that Talltrees' uncle is running the tribe now and he made a deal to build a casino to bring money and jobs to the tribe.
Talltrees arrives at the Wolf Point tribal center. He is tearfully embraced by his mother who asks where his father is. Talltrees shakes his head in despair, telling his mother that his father has begun his long journey to Seana. Rebecca falls to her knees in sorrow. Talltrees' uncle John (Mo Brings Plenty) comes out of his office to see what the commotion is, stunned to see Talltrees alive in front of him. Talltrees tells his uncle that they need to talk about the casino. John explains that the paperwork has been filed and construction has already begun, so there is no backing out of the deal now. Talltrees demands to know all of the details, but John simply explains that it is good for the tribal finances. Talltrees asks John if he knew about his father's murder. John says that he could sense his brother no longer among the walking. Talltrees tells his uncle to think long and hard about that while he counts the money from the casino.
Dawn and Talltrees sit beside a roaring fire pit behind her cabin. He tells her that he knows he has to stop Cornelius Van Lunt from bringing his brand of evil to Cheyenne country, but he isn’t sure how to go about it. He wants Van Lunt to feel the pain and suffering that he feels, but he knows that someone like Van Lunt is not driven by love. Dawn comments that the only love a man like Cornelius Van Lunt can express is the love of money. This gives Talltrees an idea to try to hit Van Lunt where it hurts.
Talltrees waits in a patch of trees until he hears the roar of a truck engine. He leaps into action, firing an arrow at the tire of the truck. The driver slams on the brakes, and another arrow sticks his hand. The driver then jerks the wheel, sending the truck head first into a nearby tree. Four stunned men emerge from the back of the vehicle armed with guns. They scan the area for their attacker. One of the men investigates a low growling sound, only to be mauled by Lobo. Standing on top of the truck, Talltrees disarms the remaining three men with a couple well-placed arrows and a crafty throw of his trusty tomahawk. He then jumps down to the ground. He knocks two of the men out with his coup stick. The last man standing, Carlson (Jerrod Carmichael), puts his hands in the air in surrender. Talltrees checks the truck showing casino payroll’s inside. He stands some distance away and readies an arrow, he sets the arrow alight. Before he lets the arrow go he asks Nonoma, The Cheyenne spirit of the wind, to guide this arrow and himself to rid all evil from Cheyenne Land. He lets the arrow go and walks back into the forest as it rises in flames.
Jason Birch walks into the offices of Van Lunt. He shows him some footage from the truck ambush. In the footage all we see is an arrow strike the drivers hand then the crash. Birch tells Van Lunt that he has a man here that the attacker let go. Carlson walks in and is immediately yelled at by Van Lunt. Van Lunt questions him on who the attacker was. Carlson, looking shaken, explains that the man gave him a message, he is coming for the Cheyenne land. Van Lunt then snaps back to Carlson asking what he looked like, Carlson explains it and Birch curses telling Van Lunt that it sounds like the chiefs son. Van Lunt tells Carlson to leave, before he can walk out the door he is shot in the back by Van Lunt, he remarks “incompetent”. Van Lunt then has a meeting organised with Sheriff Thurman to try and sort some things out.
Cornelius Van Lunt presides over a press conference to announce the upcoming grand opening of the Taurus Casino at Wolf Point, and to commemorate the historic event he announces that the site will be host to a fight featuring the current MMA Heavyweight Champion of the World. He then brings out the champ, the Belarus Bulldog (Andrei Arlovski), to the cheers of those in attendance. Talltrees walks into the heart of the crowd to make his presence known. Van Lunt is clearly surprised that Talltrees is still alive. Knowing he can’t have Talltrees killed during a public event, Van Lunt instructs the Belarus Bulldog to challenge Talltrees to a fight to put a good hurting on him. Talltrees accepts the fight and goes toe-to-toe with the bulldog. The two evenly exchange blows, which annoys the Bulldog as he usually dominates in the ring. The Belarus Bulldog throws a punch toward Talltrees, who ducks slightly. The punch hits Talltrees in the forehead, breaking the Bulldog’s hand in the process. Talltrees then easily defeats the Bulldog in the fight, getting him to tap out. Van Lunt is embarrassed and furious that Talltrees has ruined the main event of the casino’s grand opening by injuring the marquee fighter.
Talltrees returns to Dawn’s cabin and she nurses the bruises he sustained in his bout against the Belarus Bulldog. She asks him if he’s done yet with his crusade. Talltrees tells her that he will be able to stop once his soul is at peace. Until then he must continue to fight evil and injustice. Dawn asks what he expects to happen to the Wolf Point Cheyenne tribe if he ends up dead as Uncle John is surely no permanent leader for the people. She believes it is Talltrees’ destiny to take over for his father as Chief, but he isn’t sold on the idea.
Cornelius Van Lunt sits down with Wolf Point Sheriff Thurman (Michael Madsen). Van Lunt tells Thurman that he has a problem with someone messing with his business and they need to be taken care of. Van Lunt offers the sheriff a handsome amount of money to arrest this man or kill him if he has to. Thurman asks how much they are talking and Van Lunt shows him a figure, Thurman telling him the job is done. Immediately Thurman calls a few people telling them they need to find a Native messing with the Taurus Casino’s operations. Thurman even sends a few deputies to canvass houses nearby the truck incident.
Two deputies arrive at Dawn’s house. She tells Talltrees to hide in the crawl space under the cabin while she gets them to leave. Dawn answers the door and the two deputies ask her a few questions. They spot some blood in the house and question her. She tells them that she is a nurse and that a baby wolf came by injured the other day and she had to try and save it. They thank her for her time and leave, upon leaving one of them spots the coup stick hanging out from under the blanket. Once back in their squad car, they radio Thurman saying they found the house. Thurman notifies Van Lunt, telling him what his men found. Van Lunt orders Birch to go to the house and destroy Talltrees by any means.
Arriving at Dawn’s house Birch commands his men to shoot the place up. As the bullets begin shooting through the walls of the cabin, Talltrees and Dawn drop to the ground. Talltrees whistles to Lobo, who comes toward them. Talltrees crawls to his weapons but can only manage to grab his hunting knife. He tells Dawn to get to the crawlspace. The two of them, along with Lobo, crawl until they can escape. Talltrees, Dawn and Lobo wait in the trees until dark. Talltrees tells Lobo to stay with Dawn and keep her safe. Talltrees waits behind the bullet-riddled house, listening to Birch on the phone, who is reporting to Van Lunt that Talltrees was dead. Talltrees emerges from the darkness, charging toward Birch. One of the henchmen sees him and opens fire alerting all nearby. Birch makes a run for it but drops his phone. Talltrees then has to deal with the henchmen and their guns with nothing but his hunting knife. Talltrees retreats back to the darkness, where his tracking and hunting skills will give him an advantage over the guns of his enemies. Talltrees proceeds to stealthily and methodically take them down one by one. Birch decides to leave the area, only to encounter a growling Lobo. Birch aims his gun at the dog before Dawn purposely makes a sound to distract Birch. Lobo uses that split second to lunge at Birch, taking him to the ground. Although wounded, Talltrees stands tall over Van Lunt’s defeated henchmen. He picks up his hunting knife and heads back down to reunite with Dawn and Lobo. However, as he is walking down he hears a car driving up to Dawn’s destroyed home. He notices Van Lunt is the man in the car and walks back up the hill.
As Cornelius Van Lunt surveys the destruction, he sees Talltrees walking in his direction. Van Lunt immediately speeds away as Talltrees runs to another car. Talltrees immediately gives chase. Talltrees’ knowledge of the country roads allows him to catch up with Van Lunt. The high speed chase ends when Talltrees crashes his car into Van Lunt’s causing them to crash into the local dam’s nearby wall. This in turn causes a serious crack in the older dam’s wall. Van Lunt exits the crash with a graze on his head but nothing more, whereas Talltrees has a broken arm from the crash. In the crash Talltrees knife fell out of the car and was picked up by Van Lunt. Van Lunt first lunges at Talltrees with the knife but Talltrees is able to dodge easily, Van Lunt continues going toward with the knife, although dodging many Van Lunt is able to finally connect and slice Talltrees slightly. Talltrees never gives up however and continues moving forward, he manages to knock the knife out of Van Lunt’s hand. Van Lunt attempts to gauge Talltrees’ eyes temporarily affecting his sight. Van Lunt lands a series of strikes while Talltrees regains his vision. Van Lunt pulls out a gun, and saying that Talltrees now has to die because he didn’t want to give up a little land. Talltrees assures him that that land is his home and the gods would not like the misuse of it. Suddenly some cracks are heard, Talltrees looks back to the dam wall as it cracks even more. Talltrees sweeps the leg of Van Lunt before running toward a metal railing and holds onto it. The wall bursts open and water begins furiously flowing toward Van Lunt. With all his indomitable will Talltrees manages to hold onto the railing while Van Lunt falls to his death in a burst of stone and water. After the water eases, Talltrees begins walking back toward town, and once more Lobo has tracked him down and walks alongside him.
No comments:
Post a Comment